A year ago, a group of ordinary citizens fought the Duke Foundation to save the mansion Doris Duke called home.

They lost, but went down swinging.

They packed the public hearings of the Hillsborough Historic Commission, which approved the tear-down. They offered evidence that the residence met the criteria to be designated “historic” and railed against the foundation’s argument that the place its benefactor called home was historically insignificant and irrelevant to its mission.

The citizens’ group went to court, winning a short-lived injunction to stop the demolition. Then they lost Round 2 in court and the mansion, occupied by Doris Duke as …read more